Research Paper on
India and China - A Political Comparison
India and China - A Political Comparison
China and India are two regional powers and have established systems of government since decades. China follows a communist system of government and is the second largest economic power of the world. China is one of the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council and only communist state in the G-20 groups of leading economies. China is led by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949 that came to power, as a result, of winning the civil war against the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-Shek. The country was named after the civil war as People’s Republic of China, by the regime. It is only the Chinese Communist Party that has ruled the country for last 63 years, however, different political institutions and political culture in China has significantly evolved over the years. India is a one of the old civilizations in the world known as Indus Valley Civilization and is one of the largest democracies of the world. India came into being in 1947 after gaining independence from British rule. Indian Prime Minister Nehru chose the parliamentary form of government for India because it had proved to be successful form of government elsewhere in the world especially in United Kingdom. India, today has proved to be a successful democracy in the world and has been a role model of the persistent democracy for the developing countries. The successful democracy in India for last over six decades have proved wrong, the concept of failure of democracy in diverse and multi-ethnic societies. The research paper is aims at comparing the political system, political culture and economic growth of China and India with an aim to highlight the future of the world’s two largest populations.
In china, the political system is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party that is in power since end of civil war, however, the political system is not tiered, and system is constantly growing and reasonably adjusting itself according to the requirements of the day with no change affected in the fundamental principles. The Chinese Communist Party has over eighty-two million members. Any individual with the age of over eighteen years who is ready to accept the party rules and is an atheist, can apply for the membership. Party membership is an esteemed holding and people every year apply in millions for the party membership, however, fewer are accepted. There are normal discussions and oppositions like a democracy between the two highest decision making bodies of China, the Seven Man Politburo Standing Committee and twenty-five member politburo. There are also the encounters among different ministries and ministries and various headquarters and branches of Army. Ministry of foreign affairs and military have difference between them. There is a moderate political flexibility as politicians are able to sway policy discussions through political polarity (Lawrence and Martin, 2013). The Chinese Communist Party controls the society and state in China. Authority of the party rests on four major foundations. First: the party’s control on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), paramilitary forces of People’s Armed Police and Internal Security forces. Two: the party’s control on the people appointments across all the state held companies, political and public establishments and military appointments. Three: The party’s control the print and electronic media. Fourth: the control on judiciary and internal security apparatus. State Council comprising second tier leadership of state ministries and commissions ensure the implementation of party policies and routine administration. The top tier of leadership of the party is employed at national level to control the party. China’s state constitution authorizes the National People’s Congress to oversee the state council and other four institutions to include the supreme people’s court, the military, the presidency and the public prosecutor’s office. Practically, it is different as the communist party controls the National People’s Congress. The deputies of National People’s Congress approve the budget, personal appointments and agency reports, and they have the power to initiate and shape any legislation. Chinese formal political system includes People’s Political Consultative Conference and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee. Both the bodies have little powers and consulted by the party and state on policy issues. A second tier of political institutions in China is the minor political parties numbering eight. They all pledge loyalty to the Communist Party and came into existence during the civil war. The existence of these small parties help China to declare herself as a multi-party political system (Lawrence and Martin, 2013).
In India, political system is based on a multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society. Democracy did not ideally suit India due to its diverse nature of population. But India has successfully come through six decades with democracy maturing and nourishing every passing year. The fully evolved and well established democracy in India has taken its time to mature and saw the good and bad times in this history of India. There is a system of institutions behind the success of Indian democracy. These institutions have worked for the success of democracy by remaining in their own areas of jurisdiction and supporting each other. Tradition of Punchayat in India has helped people to advance the culture of democracy (Karim, 2013). Punchayat is a council of five members at village level and has a say in the social, religious, economic and political life of the people of the village. Punchayat system pursues settlements through talks, a method used in managing conflicts between individuals and families. The method also helps in economic and social entities. Prime Minister Nehru described the Punchayat system as small centers of grassroots democracy. Colonialism in an indirect way has helped the development of Indian democracy. British ruled India in a non-democratic manner but in the process they trained Indians in administration and the art of governance. It was British rule that taught Indians about the civil services, the political parties and different types of legislation, thus adding to their knowledge and political awareness. After getting independence, the experience with British rule, helped Indians to run their own government efficiently and successfully. India has had the extraordinary leadership over the years to make a successful run of democracy throughout the history. India has had many charismatic leaders who took India in the direction of progress and development of democracy. India is lucky to have had the leaders of the stature of Mahatma Gandi, Vinoba Bhav, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru. These leaders had no lust of power; instead they worked for the public interest. Democratic pledges of the Indian leaders since independence have added to the institution of democracy in India. India practices the true form of Federalism and federal government is dependent on states for the continuation of their national programs and exercises very less authority on states about policies and administration. Indian Constitution that is the supreme law of the country ensured voting right to the people of India. It was regular electoral practices in India that helped nourishing the democracy. Indian has a written constitution for the safe working of democracy and places restrictions on powers of the majority and resists any organic changes. The constitution clearly describes the type of republic, the powers, organization and the relations between the federal government and states. In India, military has remained loyal to the government and assisted the democracy to flourish. Despite having a huge military, India never allowed military to get involved in politics. Judiciary in India is a critical element of democracy in India (Karim, 2013). As a guardian of the institution and the country, judiciary is independent with no political influence. Indian Supreme Court has played it role of guarding the constitution and the country through the history of India after independence. Indian democracy faced many challenges in the past years but sailed through successfully through the challenges.
In china, the political culture has many distinct features. China has no supreme leader since 1997 after the death of Deng Xiaoping and there is a collective leadership in the country. The Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee comprising seven members is the highest decision making body. Each member of the committee has a rank from number one to number seven and looks after a particular portfolio. General Secretary of the party is ranked as number one in the committee and convenes the meetings of Politburo Standing Committee and the full politburo meetings. He also controls the military and foreign affairs. He needs consensus from the other six members of Politburo Standing Committee for major decisions. People’s Liberation Army acts as an armed wing of the Communist Party and does not belong to the state. The party exercises absolute authority on the army that makes it absolute guarantee of Communist Party’s rule in China (Lawrence and Martin, 2013). For military, loyalty to the party is prime over the loyalty to the people and country. China’s state constitution of 1982 describes the National People’s Congress as the highest body of state power and gives National People’s Congress the powers to make constitutional amendments, ensure implementation of these changes, make and amend laws, pass or abrogate treaties and many other authorities. Practically it serves as a rubber stamp for the party decisions. Provincial leaders in the Chinese political culture enjoy equal standing as of the ministers at central government. They are six in total and are the party secretaries who sit in the politburo and are among the 25 most authoritative executives in the country. Chinese political culture is a document based culture and spoken words are less authoritative than the document approved by the collective leadership. The most authoritative document is considered to be the one signed by the Communist Party Central Committee. In China, ideology is more important than any other political systems. The Chinese Communist Party has revised its ruling ideology in order to allow the changes necessary to be in-step with the rest of the world and survival of communism in China. Without changing any fundamentals of the ideology, the Chinese Communist Party introduced laws related to farmers and workers and protection of private property rights. In the Chinese Communist Party, people rise from the very low level within the party basing on their professional competence and moral integrity and merit with no preference to their origin (Fewsmith, 2001). It makes Chinese political system superior to other political system which elect the party leaders through competitive and multi-party electoral system. Age limit for appointment in the Politburo Standing Committee and the Politburo is not fixed however in last three announcements of appointments, none beyond the age of 67 got the appointment. Chinese political system relies heavily on long term planning and follows the legacy of centrally planned economic system of 1950s and 1960s. China prepares a five years plan for setting the social and economic target for the country and identify the new industries to be set up for further development. The General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party presents a document to the Party Congress giving out the Party’s main concerns for the country in the future. Chinese also has a plan to groom and develop their future political leaders that they followed in the shape of appointment of Hu Jintao as next to Jiang Zemin in 1992, ten years before he took the top slot of General Secretary. Corruption is widespread in Chinese political culture and offering of lavish meals and presentation of costly gifts by the favor seekers in exchange for jobs, permits and approvals is a routine. Expansion in Chinese economy has caused equal growth in corruption in the last thirty years. There have been trillions of dollars of illicit flow out of china every year (Fewsmith, 2001).
In India, the political culture has a history spread over centuries. In older times, India has monarchy and people were not aware of their rights and practically there existed no political culture. With the arrival of British, different kingdoms in India fell under the control of Britishers, and the period of British subjugation made people aware of their political duties and rights. After the independence, India opted for the parliamentary form of government following the Britishers. Indian constitution provided every adult over 18 years of age the right to vote and first general election held in 1952 (Silver and Dowley, 2000). Over a period, political culture in India has progressed a great deal and people’s political participation has been on the increase. Today India has a participant political culture. India political culture put emphasis on governance at both state and federal levels. Governance in India has been a source of concern throughout and has improved over the period. Poor governance is affecting the economic growth in India. Governance in India needs to be improved to make the lives of public easier and comfortable. In Indian political culture, states enjoy a good degree of independence in their local matters and central government deals only with the defence, foreign policy and economic matters. Coordination between the state government and central government has been rather good, and not much of conflicts between the two witnessed during the past. National development programs in the states are well supported by the state governments. Corruption in Indian political culture is a routine thing, and there are many instances where political leaders fell in to the practice of taking bribes. Like China, the wide the economy, it creates more scope for the corruption and availed by the corrupt elements in the government. Militant Hindus in the government and part of political culture are negative projections of political culture of India. Hatred speeches and frequent anti-Muslim riots project negative image of the Indian political culture.
Chinese economy is the world’s second largest economy after the United States and is the world’s fastest rising economy with over 10% of progress rate in last thirty years. China is the principal industrialized economy of the world, major exporter country of the world and second leading importer of the merchandises in the world. The china’s economy is the fastest developing buyers’ market in the world and on the base of per capita revenue China is graded second by International Monetary Fund in 2012. The factors ensuring the rapid growth of the economy are all in favor of China. China has an abundance of human capital that is hardworking, intelligent and efficient that has developed over the Chinese culture for thousands of years. China has an established set of functional market institutions, which although weak, but contribute to the betterment of the economy. China has been able to catch up with the speed required for today’s economies that United States does not have. China being weak on market institutions and United States slow at speed are balancing out each other in the economic run around the globe. China’s economy will continue to grow due to the permanence of availability of human capital and market institutions, however, the speed factor may slow down as China becomes more developed.
Indian economy is the Asia’s third largest economy with annual growth rate of approximately 5%, has the bigger potentials to flourish. However, it has been balanced down by high rate of inflation, dropping the value of Indian Rupees and reduction in foreign investment. Despite the recent problems, Indian economy has very strong foundations. India has invested heavily on higher educations, and Indian professionals are found everywhere around the globe. India has the strength of cheap and easily available labor that can contribute towards the growth of Indian economy (Biswas, 2014). There is surplus labor engaged in the agriculture that can be shifted to the industry and can change the whole scenario. India has the potential of developing the village level small manufacturing base and from there on, the enterprises of the people can take over and progress forward. Government needs to provide the communication networks, roads, rail and improve law and order situation in the countryside in order to flourish the economy.
Future of Chinese political system seems to be bright as Chinese leadership has the vision to adjust its political system in accordance with the changing requirements around the world without changing the fundamental values of their ideology. Although United States and the Western nations leave no chance to point out at the human right issue in China and continuously endeavor to undermine the Chinese stance internationally. China has been intelligent in handling such maneuvers and has strategically succeeded on all fronts. The future of Chinese political system goes along with the world where China continues to dominate the world economy and continue to be an economic superpower.
Future of Indian political system is very promising as it progresses with every passing day. Since last over sixty years, Indian political system has matured up, and different institutions of the political system have drawn lines between their respective areas of jurisdiction. It has helped each institution to support each other instead getting into the inter-institutional rifts. Supportive nature of institutions and their overall contribution toward the improvement of the political system in India has ensured growth of the political system in India. Continuous electoral process and successive democratic governments indicate the bright future of democracy in India.
A comparative analysis of two diverse political system and political culture indicate there are no similarities between the two. Indian and China are two different nations following different ideologies and following different set of principles to live their lives. India is a country where many ethnic groups, religions and cultures persist, whereas China has not much of diversity as they are one people with similar traditions and approximately same religion. China is an economic giant and India is tempting to become an economic giant. Both countries need to improve the lives of their own people, and this should go along with the improvement and expansion in the economy. People should not be left out, and they must benefit from the improved economies. China needs to reform the system of welfare of people and Indian need to form a system for the welfare of their own people. Improvement in economies should have positive effects on the lives of people of both the countries.
References
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Karim, Md. Manzurul. (2013). The Political System of India: An Example of a Sustainable Democracy. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention. Department of Political Science. University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
Fewsmith, Joseph. (2001). Unraveling Chinese Political Culture. China Since Tiananmen: The Politics of Transition. New York. Cambridge University Press.
Brian D.Silver and Kathleen M. Dowley. (2000). Measuring Political Culture in Multi-ethnic Societies. Re-aggregating the World Values Survey. Department of Political Science. Michigan State University and State University of New York at New Paltz.
Biswas, Soutik. (2014). World Bank Chief Economist on Future of India’s Economy. BBC News India.
Halifax, Viscount. (1935). The political Future of India. Council on Foreign Relations. April 1935 Issue
